


Raindrop

by NightysWolf



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Original Storyline V1, after the dawn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-09-05 03:15:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16802557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightysWolf/pseuds/NightysWolf
Summary: After the rising of the sun, everyone is celebrating but Ignis just can't go back to smiling this fast...





	Raindrop

When the sun had risen again for the first time after ten years, the folk of Lucis and the remains of the other realms had been in shock and very skeptical. Even after they had been told, that the eternal night was over - they stayed wary... for a week and then, when the realization had truly sunken in, they started to seek for information and for answers. And they wanted to celebrate that they finally had their lives back.

For those closest to the king though the world in light only told them with every sunrise, what they had lost. Ignis Scientia, Prompto Argentum and Gladiolus Amicitia had returned from Insomnia with broken hearts and a fallen king and the death of the king had broken all those closest to him. They laid their king to rest in silent, quiet and private ceremony far away from prying eyes in the royal tomb at the vesperpool. So, when the people of Lestallum asked them to join their big and official festivities, all of them were refusing at first. The three Kingsglaive, the Marshall, the Demon Huntress, the tipster who had grown up into an able hunter and the former imperial Commodore - they all couldn’t be happy when their hearts were ripped from their chests.

But the people of Lestallum were unrelenting and in the end the marshal gave in and persuaded the others to come along. One of the big halls next to the Exineris Power plant had been cleared out and redecorated for a huge event, but when they stepped into the room, they knew that this was wrong in so many ways. The friends could understand why the people wanted to celebrate but for them it was impossible.

Two hours after the whole event had started Aranea found the former royal advisor in one corner of the hall, leaning against a wall, his hands and his head pressed to the concrete in his back as if he needed them to keep himself grounded. Most likely not a too wrong assumption, considering that the music was more than loud and Ignis' hearing due to his blindness much sharper than those of other people. Aranea closed the distance to Ignis in a few long strides, which made her long red dress catch the wind. While Ignis, Gladio and Prompto had decided to wear their Kingsglaive-uniforms, Aranea had borrowed a dress from a woman in Lestallum since she couldn’t go to such a happening in her armor and didn’t own anything that was even halfway elegant. She had been a soldier and a mercenary for her whole life... not a model.

“Ignis,” the former Commodore said softly, when she reached him. “Are you alright?”

“What am I doing here, Aranea?” Ignis asked with a hiss and the steel in his voice was hard and cold. “I know the people have all right to be happy, that this is what we were working for all these ten years... but I can’t forget... I lost everything I once held dear to my heart. I didn’t bury my king in that tomb - I lost my best friend, my brother... the only thing I still considered family in this bloody, damn world.” The pain in Ignis voice was more than evident and Aranea could understand him. They shouldn’t be here - they should be in Caem, in Ignis’ tiny house in the town or in Hammerhead but not here... not in midst of all these people who danced and celebrated while their own hearts were broken beyond repair.

After a few more moments Ignis looked up.”I can’t stay,” he said and the pain had transformed into an endless tiredness, which didn’t surprise the commodore either, since she knew that Ignis hadn’t slept properly since the rising of the sun. Nightmares and memories kept him awake, while his untold grief was choking him in the broad daylight.

Highwind took the former advisors hand and gave it a soft tug. “Then we don’t,” she simply said and led Ignis out of the hall, while texting Prompto at the same time, that the others wouldn’t start looking for them. They made their way through the streets lit by the sunset and in the end reached the outlook, which was now the center of town again even though Lestallum had grown in these ten years of darkness through the refugees from all lands of Eos.

Ignis exhaled the air he had been holding in with a shaky breath while he leaned over the walls of the outlook. “That’s better,” he said softly. “My thanks, Aranea.”

“No problem,” the former imperial commodore replied. “Just a shame that I couldn’t show off that dress a bit more.”

“My apologies.”

Aranea shook her head. “It’s alright,” she chuckled. “It’s not as if I wanted to stay there either.” For a while the two friends just stood there in silence, each chasing their own thoughts, memories and pains. “You know that Noctis wouldn’t want you to grieve...”

A weak chuckle escaped the blind warrior. “I know, but it’s not exactly something I can stop.”

“Dance with me then.”

Surprised Ignis looked up and the sunset was reflected in his milky, green eye. “I beg your pardon?”

“Dance with me,” Aranea repeated and her hand travelled over Ignis arm. “Let yourself go for just a few moments - let your grief behind you for these short minutes. Just you and me and the sunset. I know the pain is too close, too real and too fresh but you need this one pause for now, before you are breaking completely. I don’t want you to forget or to be happy, I know you can’t be. Just concentrate on something else for a bit.”

Scientia rose to his full height again, while looking at Aranea but then he pulled his black gloves off his fingers. “When was the last time you danced?” Ignis asked while he lead Aranea to the center of the platform where they had more space.

The lady in the red dress chuckled. “In all honesty - I never danced before, but since you are the one leading I guess it will work out.”

With the ghost of a smile on his face, Ignis shook his head, before he took Aranea’s arms and laid them around his neck. “Hold on tight then,” he whispered softly, before he wrapped his arms around Aranea’s waist and pulled her closer. Sure this wasn’t the classic dance position but for whatever reason it felt right. Ignis started to move and turn and just like it was on the battlefield, Aranea easily fell into his rhythm and his movement and allowed him to take the lead. Ignis whirled them over the concrete of the outlook and for a few precious moments they both were lost into a world that didn’t know pain, loss, sorrow, grief and loneliness. But reality was a thing that couldn’t be held away for all eternity and without any of both noticing it for real, Ignis had stopped moving and held Aranea close to his body, his face buried in the crook of her neck, crying the tears he hadn’t allowed himself to show since the rising of the sun. And all Aranea could do was holding his shaking and trembling frame, running her hands in soothing circles over his back, whispering soft words of comfort. Ignis lost his grip on Aranea when it started raining all of a sudden and without even thinking of it, he slipped out of his uniform-jacket and wrapped it around Aranea’s small figure, before kissing her on the forehead. “Thank you,” he whispered softly.

Aranea couldn’t help but smile. “My pleasure,” she replied fondly.

“Shall we go home then?” 

“Yes.”

**Author's Note:**

> As always, the render can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nightyswolf/art/06-24-Raindrop-717427861


End file.
